A Pertinent Question of Life

I had three classes today. Each one frustrated me in its own special way. I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say I was tired of it all when I was done with the last one. Happily, on my way out of class I ran into a friend. We spent almost an hour talking. I explained to him my frustration and we discussed that, along with everything else in life. It was one of those deeply intellectual conversations, and as much as I don't care for philosophy, it had plenty of that as well. I like to philosophize in so far as I like to think about things, critically. Philosophy fails in that it is useless. A definition my friend gave that he heard from someone was that as soon as philosophy is applied it ceases to exist. My question to that is what good is it then? What good is talking and thinking if it leads you to doing, but then you never do? It is no good at all. Thinking about saving a person from a river, running to the bank with rope in hand and then just standing there doesn't help the person (maybe it gives the drowning person a false glimmer of hope before they sink beneath the water and their lungs fill with water, so I guess it isn't fair to say you aren't doing anything, just not anything beneficial). You help yourself though. You are all ready to attempt a rescue of the person, but instead you do nothing and keep your shoes dry. Philosophy not applied is keeping your shoes dry and letting a person drown.
Well, we had a long discussion and debate over lots of topics. We worked through some ideas and each said our part. To me it was more beneficial than the class I had just taken because my friend and I discussed and found resolution. I walked away with a different way of thinking. Whether or not I remember this change and I use it to change my behavior is another story. Our conversation was useless if I don't change. Just a lot of gum-flapping and lung compressions. Just a lot of philosophy. But, if he and I walk away and give those ideas some more thought, and change how we interact with other people and how we think for ourselves, then something good comes of it. If we apply what we discussed. I guess I am too harsh on my classes that I label as being useless and just a lot of hot air. Some of the other students probably are invested in the classes more than I am, I hope they are. For them the classes are as beneficial as my conversation in the hall was to me. I'm too quick to judge the situation from my point of view. I need to be aware of other sides. Not necessarily to give up what I perceive, but to be aware and hopefully really understand a situation.
I don't want to get into the details of my frustrations (I've already vented enough) or the content of the conversation, but I did walk away with one question that I want to mention. My friend posed the question of whether we respect the law or the law giver more. In the context it was of a religious nature; do we follow God or do we follow His laws? I think this question can give anyone enough to ponder about, whether you are religious or not. In any instance, do you respect the creator or their creation? This is the question I walked away pondering today. I don't think it is a new question, I've probably asked myself this question countless times in different ways. Today it has some direct meaning to me and I think it gives me a lot to think about. I can use this question to improve myself. It has direct influence on my motivation and intent behind everything I think and do, it could anyway. I hope that I will let it. I hope that I will make something meaningful come from the conversation I had. If I don't then I'm just raging against the machine, a machine that I am part of and regularly perform maintenance on.